Sassafrass Jones: Life in Habersham Forest

Teddy Bear Tea Party: Sassafrass Style

In case you missed our magical afternoon last week, we figured we would give you all the fun details, so you can feel like you were there. Of course, we held the tea party at Mama Sassafrass’s favorite Atlanta neighborhood French Bistro: Café Lapin. (A big thank you to the owner of this amazing place: Mattie Hines)

Steiff North American Authority Rebekah Kaufman gives tea party guests the history of Steiff teddy bears . In this pictures she is holding a Steiff made in 1906 and she calls it her “travel buddy”. Kaufman is also a regular Steiff consultant for etworks including HGTV, CBS (Inside Edition), History.com (Pawn Stars), and E! Entertainment (Clean House), among others. Thom Baker Photography

The star of the afternoon was special guest Rebekah Kaufman, who came all the way from Boston, with three of her teddy bear buddies from Steiff. After tummies were full, Rebekah gave a little talk about the history of Steiff and the teddy bears, and we got to meet some of the coolest and oldest Steiff bears ever.

Her travel buddy was made in 1906, and boy was he in good condition. He was adorable, dressed in LEE overalls that were actually made as a salesman sample in the late 1920s. She gave the people and us Steiff animals the secret formula for identifying the age and value of the Steiff. All the guests were fascinated by the “secret formula” but we will be respectful and keep it a “secret” because that makes it more fun.

The second bear she brought was called a Doll Bear. It was so cute. It had these big lips and open mouth. Steiff made these to look more like a doll and we all oohed and aahed over this little guy.

Some of the guests asked questions about other Steiff animals and there values. Here are some crazy things we learned.

Name an animal of any kind, and Steiff has made it at some point.

They even made five fleas in five different colors at some point in the 90s.

And the worst: there is a cockroach Steiff. Yuck.

But back to the good stuff. Thom Baker, photographer extraordinaire, snapped away at the guests and captured the bears and the ambience in a very magical way. Children that came got to leave with a little basket filled fun items like bubbles shaped like a teddy bear. And of course, people could not get enough of the custom-dressed Steiff animals made by Sassafrass Jones .

The little baskets were filled with bear-y cool goodies for the little ones to take home.Steiff teddy bears dressed in custom Sassafrass Jones outfits were the hit of the party.People and their kids nibbled on fun teddy bear bites and teddy bear-shaped sandwiches at Café Lapin. And, of course, there was endless cups of tea.

Mama Sassafrass (Cathleen Smith Bresciani) wanted me to make sure to thank all the people who attended the magical afternoon of tea and teddies. An extra special thank you to Thom Baker, the photographer, Mattie Hines, a friend and owner of Café Lapin, and Rebekah Kaufman, who travelled from Boston for this delightful afternoon.